Is she a terrible chicken owner or am I completely over-reacting?

So I got chickens back in August, my friend thought they were cool, said her uncle used to have chickens, and she wanted some when she moved...well she moved and got herself some ducks and chickens... I don't know anything about ducks, but know a little about chickens, and it just breaks my heart, but I really hope im over reacting and her chickens will be fine....

The pen she built for the chickens (and ducks) is some fencing put in a big circle with some chicken wire around the bottom and a lattice gate. Their "coop" is an old plastic child playhouse, the kind with the little plastic door that only closes off half the door frame, and a big ol window, and I know she doesn't even attempt to lock them up in there at night. Their run has nothing on top of it, its just open. she lives in the middle of nowhere in a trailer park surrounded by woods. There are raccoons and snakes and all kinds of other critters that can just crawl (or fly) right into that cage and kill the poor babies who have nowhere to hide. She posted on Facebook that two of her chickens had flown out of the coop and ended up under her trailer and her dog "chased them out from under the house" so they could get them back in. Well when I went over to her house the other day for her wedding, it turns out two of her chickens have been killed, at least one by the dog.

Also - when I was over at her house and I was looking at the chickens I noticed their food was full of scratch, thought it was weird, but it was her wedding day so I didn't say anything... I just asked her if the food that was in there the other day was the only thing her chickens ate and she said yeah, its just cracked corn. I asked if maybe some chicken food would be good for them so they could get some calcium and protein to help them grow, she said chickens have been eating corn and bugs for centuries and they have been fine. We live in Fl. It rains a lot in Fl. She doesn't move the food in when its raining and just leaves it there in the pouring rain, there was also no grit to be seen.

Now the ducks - as I said I know NOTHING about ducks, but it just didn't seem right to me, but I could be wrong.... The ducks pen is about half the size as the chickens pen, there are two ducks. and they have a kiddie pool which they swim in, but is also their water supply where they drink. The ducks eat the same food as the chickens.....scratch, it would seem that ducks may have different needs when it comes to food then chickens would? I could be wrong. She also figured out that one of her ducks in a male, and now after they mate for the first time wants to kill it, I understand a lot of people kill their poultry for food, but I highly doubt that she will actually eat it, as both her and her husband are to lazy to clean it.

She started with six chickens and two ducks, she now has four chickens (as of Monday) and the same two ducks. Her chickens are only about 8 weeks old.

Am I really over thinking this whole thing? I know that they are not my chickens, and I know that my girls are healthy and happy, but I feel like the fact that I am not saying more to her, if her chickens die from one of the causes listed above, that I would blame myself for not pushing more that she provide some different care for her chickens...

What do you guys think?

Hi! This is defiantly not a good situation that your friend's animals are in.

This pen seems like it is in terrible shape, and any predator could easily get in. She defiantly needs a new living space for her birds.

As for the food, scratch is very fattening, and I only feed it to my chickens as a once-and-a-while treat. They should be put on normal chicken food. The ducks especially should not be eating scratch. I don't know much about ducks either, but I would assume that they should be eating duck feed. The food should also be moved in during a rainstorm. It should be inside the coop in the first place, as any small critter can eat it outdoors.

As I mentioned above, I don't know much about ducks, but I do know that these ducks are not in a good place. I am sure that they are not supposed to be in only water. She should not kill her duck, especially if she is not sure if he is male or not.

Overall, these animals are not being well cared for. You should say something to her, or do what you can to put a stop to this. Good luck! I hope you can help these birds!

It sounds as if she doesn't really care for them and just has them as a lark, almost. Does she have internet? Can you point her in the direction of this forum? Perhaps she is not entirely aware that she is keeping them improperly. Ducks can eat the same feed as chickens, I actually started raising ducks before I ever had chickens and they all eat the same feed just fine. However, it needs to be an actual feed and not just scratch. As for the pool being their only source of water, that's a bit gross, especially if she's not changing it regularly. It probably won't hurt them, since given the choice my ducks drink out of their pool instead of their waterer, but still, it would be nice if they had fresh water available to them. And as for the very flimsy run and coop, perhaps explain to her that by keeping them that way, she is risking them all being taken by predators. Then she'd have no chickens and she would have to start all over if she is trying to raise them for eggs.

And killing the duck just because he's a male is just plain silly. Ducks, unlike chickens, can be kept in pairs, so having one male and one female is not a problem. There is no reason to kill him unless she doesn't want to pay to feed him because he's not producing eggs. If she does kill him, she'll need to get another female, though - ducks are flock animals and will sometimes stop eating and starve to death if they don't have company. Perhaps she is not aware of this as well.

It sounds like she went into this very uninformed and without doing much research. If you could get her to visit this forum it might help immensely. Who knows, maybe she is doing this out of ignorance and once she is informed she will change.

That is the coop/run for the chickens and ducks, see the ducks shelter? The blue thing...

I tried telling her the day that she did it that she needed to put something over top, anything, I read somewhere ( i think on BYC) about this lady who put colored string on top of her run to keep out the hawks, and I suggested that and she said I might just put a tarp over it, but never did. I have tried suggesting different things and telling her different things, she has been over to my house and I have shown her our coop/run and showed her the roost inside the coop and everything and showed her what they ate and everything, and she just doesn't get it.

I think it is so sad that she wants to kill the duck because he is male, I would understand it if she was going to eat it and then get another duck to keep her girl company, but she just doesn't want a male, she asked me originally if I wanted the male, but where I live i'm not even supposed to have chickens...(didn't realize that when we got them, because we live in a woodsy area, outside city limits, but it is the counties law) so I told her no, I didn't want the duck.

Before she got her chickens, I was telling her a lot of information, and she kept saying oh I know, my uncle has chickens.....

I do not know what else to say to her, and just feel so terrible for the poor little girls, I think they are silkies (from google pictures I looked at) I can try pointing her in this direction, but I don't think that she would even come look at this site.....I guess I just wish she would care about her animals the same way that I care about mine...

Margy1 said:

That is the coop/run for the chickens and ducks, see the ducks shelter? The blue thing...

I tried telling her the day that she did it that she needed to put something over top, anything, I read somewhere ( i think on BYC) about this lady who put colored string on top of her run to keep out the hawks, and I suggested that and she said I might just put a tarp over it, but never did. I have tried suggesting different things and telling her different things, she has been over to my house and I have shown her our coop/run and showed her the roost inside the coop and everything and showed her what they ate and everything, and she just doesn't get it.

I think it is so sad that she wants to kill the duck because he is male, I would understand it if she was going to eat it and then get another duck to keep her girl company, but she just doesn't want a male, she asked me originally if I wanted the male, but where I live i'm not even supposed to have chickens...(didn't realize that when we got them, because we live in a woodsy area, outside city limits, but it is the counties law) so I told her no, I didn't want the duck.

Before she got her chickens, I was telling her a lot of information, and she kept saying oh I know, my uncle has chickens.....

I do not know what else to say to her, and just feel so terrible for the poor little girls, I think they are silkies (from google pictures I looked at) I can try pointing her in this direction, but I don't think that she would even come look at this site.....I guess I just wish she would care about her animals the same way that I care about mine...

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Do you know anyone else who might want a duck? You could take it and find another good home for it, although I hate that for the female being left behind. I don't know a lot about ducks but did have a pair of Pekings last summer and as far as I could tell the male wasn't any more trouble than the female. They're not like roosters making a lot of noise and fighting for territory. And it doesn't seem like she has space for a flock of ducklings so why does she care if they mate?
That's a frustrating situation for you, but don't give up!

I hate when I see this kind of thing where people choose to be lazy and ignorant. Obviously she doesn't care about them as she rebuffs all advice you give her. Unfortunately, you can only try to keep telling her what she needs to do, but she'll probably continue to ignore you and eventually her chickens will all be dead and she won't attempt it again. It's sad to say, but her chickens don't stand a chance.

There was a house a few streets over from mine where the guy had this teeny tiny coop where the underneath serves as the run. You know these as you see them being sold everywhere. Unfortunately, they tell people that they can hold way more chickens than what it should hold. This guy had 3 standard chickens in this little coop and the footprint couldn't have been more than 5' x 2'. He never let them out. I called the town because they do have standards about how much room that each chicken is supposed to live in, but that didn't help. The coop now appears to be empty as his poor chickens probably froze over this very harsh winter we had. I can only hope he doesn't try again.

It makes me sick that people don't do any research, when in this day you have everything at your fingertips on the internet. If it were me, I'd just be straight with her and tell her that her chickens will be killed, savagely...after they live their short and crappy life with the food issues and whatever else she's not doing right, which is probably everything...and that it will be on her head. She if she even cares after you say that.

Thats disgusting people should have respect for the animals they provide for you, its your responsibility to care for them... ok sorry starting to rant here. I would be calling the local humane society. something should be done. she is not listening and I would be scared to see the state of her uncles chickens.

It is very sad, and I did tell her that her chickens would die, and that they couldn't live how she had them. I told her about the food, that they needed a roof, etc. and she ignored the whole thing, told me that they would be fine. The whole thing makes me so mad and so sad, Our chickens have a large coop with an attached run. We have three girls in there now (we had one die ) and one girl who is wild and crazy and free ranges, she sleeps in the oak tree (we just found her one day, which is what started us on chickens).

Now, I would be lying if I said that we researched and learned a lot about chickens before we got them, because honestly we didn't, but since then I am constantly learning new things and making sure my girls are happy and healthy, and they have been healthy, aside from our one girl, I don't remember what she had but it was a genetic thing, so it was unavoidable even after a vet trip.

I don't know what to do, I do not think calling anyone would do any good . I just hope that her little baby chickens and ducks don't die off

Can you report her to animal control or something? Maybe they would confiscate her birds or fine her for not providing properly for them. Why do these people get animals in the first place? They don't give a hoot about them

I don't know that they would do anything. Where we live they are not really any good . I also just read on FB that she just got a puppy!!